Potty training. I have heard my mom say, “it never was that hard for us.” Is it that they don’t remember because of how long ago it was? Or, was it really not that difficult?

I have a friend who tells me. “My girl won’t be going to school with a diaper on so whenever she’s ready she’ll stop wearing them. I think most people share at least a piece of that philosophy. Everyone has rather hectic lives and we don’t want to deal with a mess!

I bought John Rosemond’s book Toilet Training Without Tantrums. The interesting part is that the author claims he really didn’t come up with this method. In fact, he says to talk to your parents. Better yet, grandparents about potty training. They laugh. Potty training was never this stress filled event! John Rosemond compares potty training to training a puppy. For those with dogs understand that the longer you wait the harder it is. John Rosemond claims that he has never had an unsuccessful story of someone that stuck with his method during the 18-24 month span.

My motivation. Partially, $. Do you know how much diapers cost? I don’t even pay for cable t.v. or high speed internet.

A necessity for success is staying calm, not getting emotional every time there’s a mistake. For those of you that know me, I’m not very good at this. I get emotional about a lot of things. You know the saying, “don’t cry over spilled milk?” Well, I cry. I hate messes that could be prevented. I feel every mess Esther (2) or Emma (4) make, could have been prevented. I should have… Therefore with Esther. My wife did most of the training while I was at work. John Rosemond does not recommend that one person does the training because it’s important to support each other. I did my best after I got home from work.

He calls it naked and $75 because you have the child naked from the waist down and then pay $75 for a carpet cleaning. I know, it’s more than $75 to get your whole house carpet cleaned and then the upholstery. Let me explain his method the best I can. John Rosemond recommends that you purchase a little potty for every room of the house your child is going to be in. You might want to block the upstairs and take one with you when you venture up. Then you want to get your kid to drink as much as possible. What? You want them to make more mistakes? Yes, the more mistakes the quicker they will get it. Once again, the key is to stay calm so it doesn’t become a power struggle. “That’s o.k. Esther. You made a mistake. Where are you suppose to make pee pee? Go over and see if you can make some more. “ Once again that’s where I struggle. It takes everything inside me not to scream when I see the pee pee flowing down her leg. That’s one of the reasons Emma took a little longer. I remember when I would say, “go and see if you can make more on the potty and then she would kick the potty!” The other reason? Well, like John Rosemond say’s 18-24 is the best time to start the potty training course. Rosemond does not buy into the whole “readiness movement.”